Dog (Lagunillas Style)
Unidentified Nayarit maker
100-300
Burnished terracotta with cream slip and red bands on face, neck and feet
Overall: 10 1/2 × 15 in. (26.7 × 38.1 cm)
Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth: Gift of Evelyn A. and William B. Jaffe, Class of 1964H
S.958.364
Geography
Place Made: Mexico, North America
Period
1-500
Object Name
Pottery
Research Area
Americas
On view
Label
The style of this ceramic dog—featuring broad areas of red pigment and partially closed eyes—indicates that it was likely made in a workshop in the San Pedro Lagunillas region of West Mexico. Domesticated dogs were companions for people in this region, as they are in the present day, but they also were bred as a food source, played a part in rituals, and accompanied hunters.
While many examples of West Mexican ceramics were excavated from shaft tombs, where individuals were buried surrounded by ceramics in chambers accessed through a vertical shaft, similar ceramics have also been found in homes and community buildings. The neutral phrase at the beginning of the provenance record, “collected by,” offers limited insight into whether this sculpture was unearthed, purchased, or traded for by its collectors. At the time when many museum collections were formed, it was common to prioritize the object itself over where or how it was acquired. Today, museums work diligently to create more complete provenance records and use their public-facing exhibitions to seek out previously unknown information.
From the 2024 exhibition Ancient Narratives: A New Look at Old Art, curated by Ashley B. Offill, Curator of Collections
Course History
SART 17.08, Digital Drawing, Karol Kawiaka, Fall 2020
COCO 26.01, What's in Your Toolbox?, Heidi Denzel and Mokhtar Bouba, Fall 2022
COCO 26.01, What's in Your Toolbox?, Heidi Denzel and Mokhtar Bouba, Fall 2022
Anthropology 3.01, Introduction to Anthropology, Charis Ford Morrison Boke, Summer 2023
Italian 3.01, Introductory Italian III, Floriana Ciniglia, Winter 2024
Religion 4.01, Jewish Studies 4.01, Religion of Israel: Hebrew Bible, Susan Ackerman, Winter 2024
Studio Art 16.01, Sculpture I, Matt Siegle, Winter 2024
Anthropology 55.01, Anthropology of Global Health, Anne Sosin, Spring 2024
Geography 21.01, International Studies 18.01, Global Health and Society, Anne Sosin, Spring 2024
Exhibition History
A Collector's Choice, William B. Jaffe Memorial Exhibition, Jaffe-Friede Gallery, Hopkins Center Art Galleries, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, December 8, 1972-January 7, 1973.
Ancient and Premodern Global Cultures, Gene Y. Kim Gallery, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, January 26, 2019.
Global Cultures at the Hood: Ancient to Premodern, Gene Y. Kim Gallery, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, January 26. 2019.
Publication History
John R. Stomberg, The Hood Now: Art and Inquiry at Dartmouth, Hanover, New Hampshire: Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, 2019, p. 77, ill. plate no. 8.
Provenance
Collected by Evelyn Annenberg Friede Jaffe Hall (1911-2005) and William B. Jaffe (1904-1972), New York, New York, date unknown; given to present collection, 1958.
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